The extant literature on school leadership is bifurcated around the question: Are
leaders important, or, is leadership important? Many who think leaders are important, do
so because they believe the school’s tone, values, and aspirations start with “a” leader,
the principal. However, there are those who believe leadership is not really about a
single leader, but about a collective practice among people who work together, with a
focus on accomplishing a shared goal. While leadership teams have been studied in a
variety of contexts, little research is available on the cumulative effect of a school team’s
ability to think collectively to raise student performance. Noteworthy however, is that
this study makes the assumption that the sum total of individual agility as measure by
instruments designed to assess individual agility equates to an accurate measure of team
agility. This study was designed to better understand the relationship between a school
leadership team’s cognitive and behavioral agility, school climate, and student
achievement in a population of middle schools in Broward County, Florida. Theoretically, the study provides a model in support of the collective leadership
approach in moving schools toward improved student achievement. A non-experimental,
quantitative research design was utilized and The Strategic Thinking Questionnaire
(STQ) and Strategic Leadership Questionnaire (SLQ) were used to assess cognitive and
behavioral agility, respectively. Climate data, analyzed as a mediator, was extracted from
the schools’ Annual Customer Survey. Student achievement was measured as overall
school performance on standardized assessments as part of the State of Florida school
accountability system. The STQ and SLQ were administered by way of a survey and
descriptive statistics, correlation and mediation analysis were used to analyze data.
The research did not point to any statistically significant correlations between
school leadership teams’ cognitive and behavior agility as they relate to predicting
student achievement; even with school climate acting as a mediator. This may be due in
part to the assumption that agility data captured is an accurate reflection of team
functioning. The study provides opportunities for additional research on the efficacy of
leadership teams in K-12 education. / Includes bibliography. / Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2018. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fau.edu/oai:fau.digital.flvc.org:fau_40925 |
| Contributors | Grant, Shernette D. (author), Reyes-Guerra, Daniel (Thesis advisor), Pisapia, John (Thesis advisor), Florida Atlantic University (Degree grantor), College of Education, Department of Educational Leadership and Research Methodology |
| Publisher | Florida Atlantic University |
| Source Sets | Florida Atlantic University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation, Text |
| Format | 133 p., application/pdf |
| Rights | Copyright © is held by the author with permission granted to Florida Atlantic University to digitize, archive and distribute this item for non-profit research and educational purposes. Any reuse of this item in excess of fair use or other copyright exemptions requires permission of the copyright holder., http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ |
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